someone's leaning on the gov't over there pretty hard
— Matt Meyerson (@MattRPRT) October 18, 2016
As Twitchy told you, this past Sunday, Wikileaks posted that Julian Assange’s internet connection had “been intentionally severed by a state party.” Tonight, Ecuador has admitted to restricting internet access within its embassy in London:
BREAKING: Ecuador acknowledges it has "temporarily restricted" WikiLeaks' Assange's communications access following Clinton leaks.
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 18, 2016
BREAKING: Ecuador admits it cut off Assange's internet due to his use of it to interfere in the U.S. election. pic.twitter.com/VNJ6sdHhHj
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) October 18, 2016
#Ecuador confirms it Cut Internet on #Assange to avoid interference in US elections. Statement via @robertcaruso pic.twitter.com/0NmVuWfVE3
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) October 18, 2016
#Ecuador admits it cut off #JulianAssange's internet access at its U.K. Embassy after #Wikileaks published "documents impacting #USelection" pic.twitter.com/tI2ANODSHG
— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) October 18, 2016
It’s no secret that Hillary Clinton’s allies in the State Department (yes, we know that’s redundant) are furious over Wikileaks’ email dumps:
State Department on WikiLeaks: "What they're doing is illegal" https://t.co/6h4QJzaqFR pic.twitter.com/UE2hQaiEbA
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 18, 2016
Inquiring minds can’t help but want to know: Did the State Department play a role in the Ecuadorian government’s decision? For the record, the State Department denies being involved:
Mark Toner denied WikiLeaks’ suggestions that Secretary John Kerry pressured the Ecuadorian president to sever Julian Assange’s Internet connection. Assange resides in Ecuador’s London embassy, where he sought asylum in 2010 when faced with Swedish rape charges.
“That’s just not true. He didn’t raise that,” Toner said. “There just was no meeting. They didn’t discuss any of this stuff.”
“Our concerns about WikiLeaks, and in part Mr. Assange, are well known, but we did not have any involvement in either shutting down his Internet” or in influencing the Ecuadorian government to do so, Toner added.
But some people find that hard to swallow.
https://twitter.com/DanielVictor_00/status/788508288715460608
@RaymondArroyo oops … Looks like someone put the 'squeeze' on Ecuador.
— ilBabbo (@ilBabbo) October 18, 2016
@BretBaier Why? Only one answer: Pressure from the White House.
— LDS of CA (@LStrickland760) October 18, 2016
by definition rigged political interference via the State Dept.
— 4MANGANG (@garyjf75) October 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/Eliitrust/status/788508584686460928
@BretBaier So the US gov't got to Ecuador!
— Fox Terrier (@wiredterrier) October 18, 2016
I guarantee our government got to Ecuador to shut it down
— Dawn Dix (@DawnMDix) October 18, 2016
What do you think?
***
Update:
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/788872994391101440
Exclusive: U.S. pushed Ecuador to act against Assange, say officials https://t.co/dtvXKGfnd8 via @nbcnews
— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) October 19, 2016
Huh.
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